Humen (虎门镇), also known as Taiping, is a county-level city within the Dongguan prefecture-level city, on the eastern side of the Bocca Tigris on the east bank of the Pearl River Delta, in the Guangdong Province of southern China.

Economy

Humen is a thriving city crowded with consumer-goods factories. These factories also
fueled population expansion from emigrating workers around the country seeking factory jobs. Furthermore, Humen is geographically advantageous for the factories due to its proximity to two large metropolitan cities and exporting harbors, namely Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Humen has long been an important gateway to South china. Going upstream, ships plying the Pearl River can reach the east, north and west of Guangdong and even parts of Guangxi province. The main port, Humen Port, is a first-category state port which opens to foreign watercrafts.

History

The history of Humen is linked to the First Opium War (1839-1842). It is in Humen that Lin Zexu supervised the destroy of large quantities of seized opium (1839). Some major battles in the First Opium War were fought here and in the Bocca Tigris.

Tourist attractions

• The "Sea Battle Museum", which has dioramas and displays concerning the Opium Wars, may be reached by taking Bus 8A or 8B to its westernmost stop.

• The Opium War Museum aka. Lin Zexu Memorial Museum

• Former Residence of Jiang Guangnai

• Keyuan Garden (lit. "a garden not too bad for visiting"), built in 1850 during the Qing Dynasty

Several Qing Dynasty forts, including:

• Weiyuan Fort (威遠炮台), located near the "Sea Battle Museum" and almost directly under the Humen Pearl River Bridge

• Shajiao Fort (沙角炮台; lit. "sand corner" fort), where the Convention of Chuenpeh took place in 1841

• Eyi Fort (鵝夷炮台)

• Jingyuan Fort

• Zhenyuan Fort

Travel and transport

Humen is located at the eastern end of the Humen Pearl River Bridge.

Humen is served by regular direct buses traveling south from Guangzhou, and one can continue south by bus to Shenzhen's Window of the World theme park, from which one can continue on to the Hong Kong border by bus or the Shenzhen Metro.

A ferry service connects Humen to Hong Kong International Airport.